Science Fiction Though the Decades

Monday, February 24, 2014

1983: Prelude to Chaos (Llewellyn, Edward)

Concentrated background frames
diluted characters (2/5)

I bought this novel because of the motorcycle on the cover; simple
as that. I had never heard of Edward Llewellyn and, after reading this novel, I
may never hear again of Edward Llewellyn. We wrote his first science fiction novel
at the ripe age of 67 (proof that it can never be too late). After that
novel, The Douglas Convolution (1979), Llewellyn wrote only five more
novels, two of which were published posthumously. Most noteworthy, which is
perhaps too strong of a word to use in this case, is his Douglas Convolution
trilogy in includes the novel of the same name (1979), The Bright Companion
(1980), and this very novel being reviewed, which acts as a prequel to the
series, Prelude to Chaos (1983).

Rear cover synopsis:

“Gavin Knox was bodyguard to the President of the United States
and witness to a crime which could shake civilization to its foundations.

Judith Grenfell was a neurologist who discovered a side effect of
the most common pharmaceutical on the market which could cause the greatest
biological disaster in human history.

Both were prisoners in the most advanced maximum-security prison
ever devised.

Without their information the few survivors of biological catastrophe
could dissolve in bloody civil war. They had to escape, and fast, to safeguard
the survival of the human race, or leave the world barren for eternity.”

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Savvy with technology and gutsier than most, Gavin Knox holds a
special status among the prisoners on a barren peninsula where the Federal Penitentiary
at Jona’s Point sits imperviously. The prisoners are confined within their prison
at all times; they never see the natural color of the sky, never see the
horizon, and never hear of news from outside their concrete confines; Gavin,
however, has the duty to adjust the radio lines on the roof, thereby allowing
him to spy on the only ship perpetually near the prison.

Also with a privileged status, Judith Grenfell has access to keypass
codes and freedom in the medical ward and its morgue. Also with detailed
knowledge of how bodies are packaged, shipped, and disposed of, Judith only
needs assistance with technology to hatch her plan of escape, which is where Gavin
Know comes into the picture. Though the prisoners are always watched, their
time being intimate is knowingly less watched; so with sweet nothings mumbled
into each other’s ear, they concoct their plan: bypass doors, hide under a
frozen stiff, easily pass the defunct scanners, emerge from their coffins while
on the offshore boat, clobber a guard or two, and make off with the mini-copter
to freedom…

…if only a mini-copter weren’t so inconspicuous. On a less obvious
route, the duo exchange their transportation for a car, which they switch often
in order to stay off the law enforcement’s radar. Their once professional trysts
in the prison morph into a less formal acquaintance, their respective personal
traits bolstering their low profile and dependence on one another. Spooning in
cold motels, their budding relationship doesn’t go beyond emotional and
technical support, but Judith’s decision to relocate to a religious enclave may
change the nature of their relationship.

The enclave, one of many remote places called Settlements by the
puritan practitioner’s of The Light, is home to an Amish-esque commune; rather
than limit their technology to eighteenth-century standard, the Light
communities limit their use of chemicals to pre-1990 level. This single decree
of their religion has kept them safe from the terrible effects of Impermease, the
“cheapest, safest, and most effective insecticide” (183) but in reality, the
chemical built up in the human body and destroyed the female ova even before
birth, thereby rendering nearly every female around the world infertile. The
Believers of The Light host fertile women, all of whom they encourage to
reproduce through marriage. This fixed notion of marriage drives a wedge
between Gavin, who makes the suggestion to ease their place in the community,
and Judith, who fiercely decries the draconian measure against her feminine
freedoms.

Another chemical drug which the community shuns is Paxin, a drug
which was announced to have very little side effects other than its calming
stat; Judith is one of the few people who actually know the truth: Paxin acts
as a primer for subconscious suggestion. Gavin, having been arrested for murder
of a colleague in the Secret Service, is under the impression what he had once
been under the influence of the drug, a hypothesis which is consistent with his
odd impulses. Since the Settlements do not take the drug of Paxin, they live a
freedom which is unknown to those in the Affluent, any city or town which is
outside of the Settlement. The Believers have a very strong opinion toward the
Affluent, but so too do the Affluent have opinions of those in the Settlements.

…Judith,
a fine scientist, who might have been adding her brains and skill to the
struggle to discover some solution to the Impermease disaster, was more worried
about the health of the few hundred children in the Settlement than the sterility
of millions of American girls.

I
mentioned this to her once. She sighed and said, “I’ve told you already, Gavin.
All their research is hopelss. The eggs in those girls were sterilized years
ago. I won’t waste my time trying to bring the dead back to life. What I can do
is to help the living to grow up healthy and strong, fit to build a better
world.

“So
America means nothing to you anymore?”

She
turned to stare at me. “Oh yes it does! The new America. The America which will
rise from the cesspool of the Affluence. That is what we are working for here!”
(157-158)

Judith’s opinions are largely shared among the Settlements, but
outside the Settlements lurks jealousy and distrust:

…Rumors
listened to with excitement and passed on with eagerness for the same conscious
or unconscious reasons; to raise a sense of public indignation which might
later justify burning the homes and looting the property of the minority
concerned. And the hatred behind the desire was fueled by more than common
resentment. It was fired by the fact that the Sutton Settlement still contained
fertile women. (164)

This mutual dislike boils over
during one of the Settlement’s trips to town where they exchange their last
load to lobster for gold bullion, a tempting mark for marauders. With Gavin’s
military expertise, the crew of the gold-laden truck make their escape after
shooting and maiming their way through the local’s blockade. This stunt infuriates
them enough to mount a larger sortie to the Settlement’s recluse location, but
the organization of Gavin’s wartime awareness easily crushes the drunken
yokels. However, the very act of hostility brings in the federal agents who
want to capture their women, dismantle their camp, and reeducate the men. For
refuge, there is only one resort: the Federal Penitentiary at Jona’s Point,
the same penitentiary which imprisoned Gavin and Judith but which may now give sanctuary
to the Settlement.

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What should be a story to “safeguard
the survival of the human race”, according to the book’s own synopsis, fails to
gain momentum after the prison escape and devolves into a story to safeguard
against small-minded religious zealots, local yokels, and big brother. This has
every feel of a potboiler: perpetually tepid action, sexual tension, misogyny, murder,
a car chase, shootouts, a sleazy motel, a motorcycle, and the enticement of
prison sex. This would be, at best, a mediocre novel if it wasn’t for (a) the
overly-detailed background story, (b) the repetition of a few words, and (c)
the complaining about women.

Aside from the four-page
epilogue, there are 21 chapters, nearly each one with a page or two of
background to the current story. This novel is supposed to act as a prequel to
the proceeding two books, but the chunky bits of background feel like textbook
snippets spliced into the narrative—almost like a prequel within the prequel
itself. All of the history feels force fed, none of it has an organic presence
in the story.

Within the first few chapters, I
noted Llewellyn’s overuse of the word affluent as a proper noun (Affluence), as
a common noun (affluence), and as an adjective (affluent). I estimated I had
read the word seven times, so I kept a count thereafter: 25 times, about half
of which the proper noun accounts for. That seemed a bit much, but another word
was idiosyncratically over used, the German loanword “verboten”, which was used
four times. I suppose it’s a loanword but while everyone knows what the word
means, no one actually uses it… except for Llewellyn.

Gavin Knox is a pretty macho
guy. He’s so wrapped up in his militaristic self that the concept of “woman” usually
involves their admiration over his manliness or their secret desire to bed him;
any experience a female has outside of these boundaries is unknown territory
and best left to complaining about: “She strode down the alley, her skirt
swinging, her head held high. She was a stubborn, willful, crazy, arrogant bitch
… Once she married me, nobody would dare to insult or threaten her” (119). That
is, nobody can insult her or all women unless it’s Gavin Knox himself: “That’s
the trouble with having a female partner on any mission [aside from missionary,
I presume]. Single-minded and resolute in the crunch; illogical and
unpredictable when out of it” (144).

On a more minor note, be it an
artistic inclination or unfamiliarity with writing novels, compound the three
annoyance above with Llewellyn’s affection for sentence fragments and you’ll
find a novel which is aggravating to read: word repetition, sentence
truncation, rants about women, and exhibitions of textbook background.

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If Prelude to Chaos is an
introduction to the Douglas Convolution, count me out of the proceeding two
novels. The ideas of infertility are mildly interesting, but Llewellyn doesn’t
possess the vehicle to move the idea toward fruitfulness. The novel ripens too
quickly in and around the prison then tapers off into a distasteful mix of bitter
misogyny, stodgy background, and vapid progress.